


sweater weather

by orphan_account



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Fluff, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, Sharing a Bed, adam parrish is sleepy and pissed off, also making out, also noah and blue and gansey are dating, brief mention of gansey with a septum ring, brief mention of tad carruthers, cabeswater is a tattoo artist, kisses on palms, lame boyfriends telling their lame friends, ronan and adam being cute, ronan is insecure, the fluff is getting out of control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-04-24 19:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4932205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>basically, adam parrish doesn't want to give up his blankets and ronan lynch is bad at dealing with feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. october

Adam was pretty sure that he was going to freeze to death. October had arrived in Henrietta, bringing with it orange leaves, an overzealous Blue who was preparing for Halloween with a fervor that was starting to scare the rest of them, and viciously cold weather that had turned Adam’s shitty apartment into an even shittier icebox. 

Adam was huddled under a pile of thrift store blankets, wearing all of the sweatshirts he owned, and trying to pretend his teeth weren’t chattering anyway. He wasn’t sure if it was a result of growing up in the normally sweltering heat of Henrietta, or the way he was built, thin and hollow-boned like a bird, but he was almost as bad at dealing with the cold as Ronan was with the heat.

He closed his eyes, willing sleep to come so that night would end and a marginally warmer morning would arrive. He’d already exhausted himself trying to think of a better way to phrase the favor -  _save Gansey_  - that he would ask when they woke Glendower, and so now he turned to drowsily recollecting memories of the five of them, like flipping through the pages of a beloved book.

That morning at school, Gansey bumping Adam’s fist with charming self-consciousness, Ronan giving him a rare almost-smile. The familiar chaos of school. Ronan getting into a fight with Tad Carruthers, for reasons that were beyond Adam. That afternoon, when Blue had run and jumped into Gansey’s arms, the two of them looking so happy that it was almost impossible to bear until Ronan had shoved his shoulder into Adam’s with a look that somehow managed to be kind and tell him not to be a fucking asshole at the same time.

Ronan. The savagely handsome lines of his face, the unexpected gentleness that came out in the smallest of gestures, the way he looked at Adam when he thought Adam wasn’t looking at him. Adam burrowed deeper into the warmth of his blankets, drifting somewhere between wakefulness and sleep, half-wondering what it would be like to stare back at Ronan, or to kiss Ronan, warmer now that he was almost asleep.

BAM. BAM. BAM.

Adam jerked back awake, his ears ringing, groggily looking at the alarm clock sitting on the upturned cardboard box next to his bed and checking that it was, in fact, three in the morning.

A few minutes later, Adam was standing at the door, staring at Ronan Lynch with an expression that was half sleepy and half pissed off.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Ronan?” Adam asked. Ronan was wearing badly ripped jeans and a black tank top that was splattered in something that looked a lot like dried blood. Chainsaw was perched on his shoulder, and somehow looked as annoyed as Adam, as if Ronan had woken her up at three in the morning, too.

“Why the fuck did it take you so long to get the door?” Ronan said instead of answering, stalking into the apartment and immediately shivering. “Jesus. It’s fucking freezing in here.”

Adam didn’t dignify either of these comments with an answer. “Why did you bring Chainsaw here?”

“She doesn’t like sleeping alone,” Ronan said. “Noah is being fucking creepy, and Gansey is out pretending not to fall in love with Blue.”

Adam was too exhausted to decide whether Ronan’s bird having separation anxiety, Noah being fucking creepy, or Gansey falling in love with Blue was the worst problem right now. He just shrugged and collapsed back onto his bed.

God, it was fucking cold in here.

Ronan paused, glancing around at Adam’s apartment as if he thought he might find a convenient bird perch somewhere. Eventually, he settled on pulling off his tank top to make a makeshift nest for Chainsaw on Adam’s plastic bin desk. Then he sprawled out on the floor, his pale skin faintly visible in the dark. He looked as if he might be shivering.

Adam sighed. He couldn’t let Ronan sleep on the floor, shirtless, with no blankets. On the other hand, giving up some of his blankets felt like a worse sacrifice than the one he had made for Cabeswater.

“Damn it,” Adam said. “Ronan… you can’t sleep there.”

Ronan jerked slightly at Adam’s voice. “Where the fuck else am I supposed to sleep? I told you, Monmouth is fucking haunted.”

“You can sleep here,” Adam said, the words out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“On the floor? Yeah, thanks, I’m there already,” Ronan said. Adam wasn’t sure if he was simply being obtuse, or if he’d already understood what Adam meant but didn’t want to do anything until he was certain.

“No, you idiot, I mean  _here_ ,” Adam said. “On the bed.”

For a moment, Ronan was frozen. And then he was clambering awkwardly to his feet, his arms wrapped around himself from the cold, his expression still slightly unsure, looking strangely vulnerable for a boy who normally acted like he owned the world and everyone else just had to fucking deal with it.

“You have a fucking tiny bed,” Ronan said, a statement which was completely true but still offensive, like most of what Ronan said. He looked like he was on the edge of bolting.

“Shut up,” Adam said, shifting to the edge of the bed and lifting one side of the pile of blankets so that Ronan could slide under them.

And then Ronan was lying next to Adam, shivering violently at the sudden warmth, somehow making the bed seem five times smaller than it had before. For a moment, they were an awkward tangle of limbs and blankets and Ronan trying to pull the blankets over so that the cold air couldn’t get in, and then they were pressed against each other and the blankets were covering both of them and Adam’s heart felt like it was trying to break out of his rib cage.

They were both very still. Adam wondered what Ronan was thinking.

And then Ronan said something in a burst of words that made absolutely no sense, partly because Adam was lying on his good ear, and partly because Ronan had said them so quickly they were more like one rush of exhaled air than individual words.

“What?” Adam said, sitting up on his elbow so that his good ear wasn’t pressed against the pillow anymore.

“Forget it,” Ronan said, sitting up and throwing the blankets off, like he was about to leave. “Pretend I didn’t say anything.”

“Wait,” Adam said, catching Ronan’s shoulder. His fingers were warm and electric where they touched Ronan’s bare skin. “I didn’t hear. What did you say?”

Ronan hesitated, and for a moment, Adam thought he wouldn’t say anything, would simply leave. It was a surprisingly painful thought. And then Ronan bit the words out, quickly, the way he might rip off a bandaid. “Go out with me.”

At first, Adam could only stare at him, his brain stuck somewhere between  _Ronan Lynch is lying shirtless in my bed_ and  _Ronan Lynch just asked me out._  And then he fell down onto the bed, a stupidly wide grin covering his face. “Some people might have phrased that as a question.”

Ronan stared at him, his expression divided between exasperation and relief that Adam hadn’t thrown him out on the spot. “Fine. Adam, will you go out -”

He never did manage to ask his question, though, because Adam was already pulling him down and kissing him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is my first fic ever and i'm unreasonably proud of it. :) the title is borrowed from the NBHD's song. also, i'm probably going to write a part two, in which they go on a date, noah gives adam terrible dating advice, and ronan continues to have absolutely zero chill ever.


	2. i wanna be yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ronan and adam wake up together. also, cabeswater is a tattoo artist, and ronan is still bad at dealing with feelings.

When Ronan woke up, he had two things wrapped around him: a delicate, faintly luminous vine with flowers the color of blood, and a sharp-edged boy with hair the color of Henrietta dirt. For a moment, Ronan stared at Adam, half-wondering if he was still asleep. Adam’s arm was wrapped around Ronan’s waist, his cheek pressed in the concave between Ronan’s neck and shoulder, the normally hard lines of his body softened with sleep. He looked peaceful, in a way that almost no one did when they were this close to Ronan Lynch.

Ronan felt a tickle against his wrist, and he looked down, realizing that the strange vine was slowly twining its way up his arms. It was wicked and lovely, curved and hooked in a way that reminded him of his tattoo, and it was still growing. Which meant that he wasn’t the one who had dreamt it.

“Adam,” he hissed, pushing Adam’s shoulder gently. “Wake up, loser.”

Adam groaned, wrapping his arm more securely around Ronan like he was some kind of fucking pillow. He mumbled something into Ronan’s skin that sounded like “don’t wanna.”

The vine had started tracing its way over Ronan’s shoulders and up his neck, creating a strange and lovely pattern on every inch of exposed skin. “Adam, WAKE UP.”

Adam finally looked up, his expression sleepy and confused. “Ronan? Why are you - _oh._ Right.”

“Yes, _oh_ ,” Ronan mocked, his voice sharp. His heart was suddenly beating harder, and he felt slightly sick. This was where Adam said he hadn’t been thinking last night, and he liked girls, not boys, not Ronan. Not that Ronan could blame him, because who would want Ronan, with his vicious tongue and ugly dreams and broken pieces?

Ronan sat up, pulling away the blankets, the early morning air freezing against his bare skin. “I’ll - yeah. I’ll go.”

Adam rolled his eyes, and sharp hurt stung Ronan, burning like venom. He cursed himself, over and over again, for coming to Adam’s apartment last night. This was what hoping lead to. He should’ve just kept his stupid mouth shut, instead of asking Adam out and fucking up everything.

“I knew this would happen,” Adam sighed, shoving Ronan back onto the bed. Ronan stared at him, his lips parted in a snarl.

“I don’t want a fucking apology,” Ronan said. “Just - I’ll get out of here, and we’ll pretend it never -”

And then Adam was kissing him, and Ronan shut up. It was a sharp, uneasy kiss, all teeth and frustration and Adam pressing against Ronan in a way that didn’t feel like an apology. And then it softened, slowly, and Adam was kissing Ronan so gently it hurt, and Ronan was kissing him back.

Adam drew back slightly, grinning against Ronan’s lips. “I wasn’t lying last night. I meant what I said.”

Ronan stared at him, his deep-set eyes and prominent cheekbones and scattered freckles, every part of him beautiful and familiar and achingly wantable. “You’ll go out with me?”

“Yes,” Adam said, still smiling, his fingers tracing a gentle path across the sharp line of Ronan’s jaw. “You say that like it’s an impossible thing, wanting to go out with Ronan Lynch. You do know that half of Aglionby is crushing on you, right?”

“They’re crushing on you,” Ronan said automatically. “I keep having to beat them up.”

“Oh,” Adam said, his eyes widening. “So that’s why -”

Ronan didn’t let him finish that thought. He dragged Adam back against him, kissing him harder than he had before. This time, the kiss was unpracticed but familiar, a half-forgotten language that they both spoke. Adam’s lips parted slightly on a gasp, and the kiss deepened. Ronan was sitting up against the wall, and Adam was above him, his legs straddling Ronan’s hips. Adam’s hands traced against Ronan’s stomach, up to his chest, and then suddenly he pulled back.

_No, no, no,_ Ronan thought, panic racing back as quickly as it had left. Had he gone too quickly? Oh, God, he had. Adam was going to leave, and Ronan would be left alone, the same as before, except now he had the memory of Adam’s tongue against his and he would never be able to look at Adam again. Fucking perfect.

Adam’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Why are you covered in plants?”

Of all the things Ronan had expected Adam to say, this was not one of them. “What - oh, the vine. Yeah, you made that. That’s why I woke you up. It was trying to strangle me.”

Adam’s fingers traced over the vine, curious. Ronan almost groaned. He hated Henrietta. Either the plants were trying to speak to you, or they were cockblocking you.

“I don’t think I would try to strangle you,” Adam said, rolling his eyes. He lifted the edge of one of the tendrils of the vine, pulling it gently away from Ronan’s skin. Below the vine, there were dark lines, tangled in the same intricate pattern the vine had been. The similarity to Ronan’s tattoo was striking.

Ronan pulled away more of the vine, uncovering more dark, ashy lines. He frowned. “What the hell?”

Adam coughed. “I think they’ll go away, probably.” He started rubbing one of the lines, determinedly avoiding Ronan’s eyes. The line was fading, slightly, but Ronan’s attention was caught by the rising blush on Adam’s cheeks.

“Why were your dreams drawing on me?” Ronan asked, starting to grin. The awful panic was bleeding out of him, leaving him suddenly light.

Adam mumbled something, too quietly to understand. He’d started pulling away the rest of the vine, scattering pieces of green vine and blood-red flowers on the bed, although he didn’t seem to notice the mess.

“Adam,” Ronan said, his voice low and persuasive. “Why?”

Adam sighed, unwillingly looking back at Ronan. He parted his lips, hesitated, and then finally said it. “I like your tattoos, all right? So, uh, I think Cabeswater… gave you more.”

Ronan laughed, sharp and wild, and Adam blushed even harder. “You’ve got to be shitting me. The sentient forest’s a tattoo artist now. Gansey’s going to have a septum ring in a week.”

“I hate you,” Adam said, starting to get up. “I’m going now.”

“No, you’re not,” Ronan said, laughing and pulling Adam back against him. “You want to go out with me, remember?”

Adam glared at Ronan, but then his eyes softened. He pressed a kiss against Ronan’s neck, where the vine had left ashy lines that twisted into cruel and beautiful images. “Yeah, I want to go out with you.”

And this time, Ronan wasn’t surprised when Adam kissed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a really short one, and i mostly wrote it because i kept thinking about how insecure ronan would probably be when they woke up (answer: super duper insecure). the title is borrowed from the song by arctic monkeys. i know they haven't gone on their date yet, but i promise that's going to happen! (and noah will give adam so much bad dating advice. really. it's going to be terrible.)


	3. tear in my heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lame boyfriends tell their lame friends. there may or may not be kissing of palms in this chapter.

If Ronan kept stealing glances at Adam like that, he was going to lose his mind. It had been bad enough in the months before, but kissing and agreeing to go on a date with him didn’t seem to have done anything to solve the problem. If anything, Ronan was even edgier now than he usually was.

“Stop worrying,” Adam said, reaching out and taking Ronan’s hand on impulse. “They’re going to be fine about it.”

“I wasn’t  _worrying_ , loser,” Ronan said, because he was Ronan, but the tense set of his shoulders relaxed slightly. “Let’s do this.”

Ronan slammed the door open with a sharkish grin. Monmouth Manufacturing was massive and nearly empty, except for three teenagers lying in a tangled pile on the bed in the middle of the living room.

“ _Finally_ ,” Noah said, sitting up with a bright grin and messy bed hair. “It took you long enough.”

Adam grinned at him. Out of the corner, he saw Ronan ducking his head and - wait, was that a  _blush?_

“What are you talking about?” Gansey asked, blinking sleepily and yawning. “Oh, hey, Ro, where were you?”

Adam took a moment to silently question the efficacy of Aglionby’s extremely prestigious education methods.

Before Ronan could formulate a response, a small catapult with spikey black hair and pink unicorn pajamas flew across the room and tackled them.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DIDN’T TELL ME,” Blue said.  

“It’s been a  _day_ , maggot,” Ronan said, but there was no bite in his voice. He and Blue had become inexplicable friends ever since that day in the caves, when they’d gone to find Blue’s mother. Which was a relief, because they had the same terrible taste in music and spared anyone else from having to endure The Flaming Narwhal’s latest album, or whatever it was that they were listening to lately.

Noah blinked owlishly at them from the bed, where he was still cuddled together with a sleepy-looking Gansey. “Wait, so who did it first?”

“Did what first?” Adam asked, confused. Blue was somehow managing to hug both him and Ronan at the same time, which meant that they were squashed together in a not-entirely-unpleasant way.

“ _Kissing_ , Adam! Obviously!” Blue said.

“Oh,” Adam said. “Well, me, I guess.”

“I  _knew_  it,” Noah said, his voice quietly pleased. “You owe me ten bucks, Blue.”

Blue jumped back and stared at Ronan, her expression outraged. “I was counting on you, dammit! Now I have to pay Noah five dollars!”

Noah looked like he was about to disagree with Blue, but Gansey interrupted him. “Wait, what? Who have Adam and Ronan been kissing?”

Noah and Blue shared a Glance, and then Noah shook his head at Adam, his expression mournful. “He still hasn’t figured it out. I don’t even think he knows  _we’re_  dating.”

“Wha - do you mean … Adam and Ronan?  _Ronan_  and Adam?  _Dating_?” Gansey said, his expression bewildered.

“Yeah,” Ronan said, but his voice was slightly hesitant. On impulse, Adam pulled their joined hands up and pressed a gentle kiss against Ronan’s palm.

“Yeah,” he said. “Dating.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i keep saying that they're going to go on a date, but then i start writing things and it's like lol n o p e this is happening instead. next chapter, alright? the title is borrowed from the song by twenty øne piløts. thank you for being patient with me, i haven't been feeling very well lately. xoxo


	4. angels

“And remember to be honest with him,” Noah said, the only piece of advice he’d given Adam in the past two hours that hadn’t been completely insane. “Tell him how you feel.” Noah paused. “Or just start singing Spice Girls. That’s what Gansey did.”

“Wait, what?” Adam said, staring at Noah and trying to picture Gansey serenading him with 90s dance pop _._ It was terrifyingly easy to imagine. “But… which song?”

_“If you wanna be my lover,”_ Noah started singing, his voice low and mournful, and Adam collapsed with silent laughter.

There was a sudden, violent crashing at the front door, and Adam looked at Noah, smiling. Noah gave him a thumbs up and disappeared into a faint wisp of smoke.

There was another crash at the door, which somehow managed to sound aggrieved. “Yeah, yeah,” Adam said, crossing the room and pulling the door open. “You know, some people prefer to save the property damage lawsuits for the third date.”

“Yeah, fuck you,” Ronan said, shoving a bouquet of flowers at him, which Adam faintly thought was an accurate representation of Ronan’s personality in general.  

“Thank you,” Adam said, looking at the flowers. They were delicate and lovely, almost like orchids but not quite, and there was a luminescent glow clinging to their petals. Normally Adam would have felt a pinch in his stomach when he thought of the cost and whether or not he’d be able to repay it, but these must have been taken from a dream. “They’re beautiful.”

Ronan shrugged, turning abruptly to his car, but Adam caught the hint of a blush on his cheekbones. “It’s nothing. Come on, Parrish, we’re wasting time.”

“I didn’t realize we were on a schedule,” Adam said with a raised eyebrow, following Ronan back to the crouched black BMW. He was almost expecting Ronan to start playing the murder squash song, but instead there was the electronic beat of something dark and calm, less violent than the music Ronan usually listened to.

“Something like that,” Ronan said with a sharklike grin, pressing down on the accelerator. The engine snarled as the BMW bit down on the concrete in a sharp turn, and then they were leaving, the church fading into the distance behind them.

There was a sense of relief in being able to watch Ronan, without trying to hide it. Adam tracked the sharp grace of his movements, the careless hand he had on the steering wheel, the tip of his lips when he looked at Adam. “You’re staring.”

“Something that you’ve never done before, of course,” Adam said dryly, without looking away.

“Of course,” Ronan said, a laugh spilling from his lips. It was something easy and free, a part of Ronan that Adam had only caught glimpses of before, and he wanted to hold it in his hands until he knew it by heart.

It wasn’t long before Adam realized where they were going, the turns of the road twisting into a familiar pattern. The evening had faded into night by the time they arrived at the Barns, and Ronan glanced at Adam, the music cutting off as he twisted the keys. “Let’s go, loser, we’re going to be late.”

Part of Adam wanted to ask what they could possibly be late for on a magical autonomous farm, but he’d spent enough time around Ronan that he knew these things usually had no clear answer, or if they did, it would already have changed by the time Ronan told him.

They went to the house first, the soft aura of magic suffusing the air around them. Ronan hummed an old Irish song under his breath as he looked through the cupboards, pulling out a box of strange caramels and two blankets. He tossed one to Adam, who realized as he caught it that it was already cozily warm, as if it had heat trapped inside it.

Ronan tipped his head towards the stairs, and Adam followed him, laughing softly when he heard the banister humming Ronan’s song back at him.

Once they were upstairs, Ronan tipped open one of the windows, giving Adam a crooked smile. “Easy access to the roof,” he said, and clambered out onto the tiles.

“You’re insane,” Adam said, laughing, but he still followed after him.

Ronan gave him the middle finger, setting his blanket on the roof and sprawling down on it. He was a collection of sharp edges in the muted light, and Adam felt something sing in his chest as he stared at him. Ronan looked up at him, one of his shark grins carving across his face. “Any time this year, Parrish.”

“Shut up,” Adam said reflexively, clambering across the roof to sit down next to Ronan. His shoulder was warm and solid next to Adam’s, and he pretended not to notice as he looked up at the vast sky carpeted with stars. “What are we doing up here, anyway?”

“...I don’t really know,” Ronan said, looking away slightly and running a hand over his shaved head. “Cabeswater thought it would be a good idea.”

Adam choked on a laugh. “Wait, so you asked a sentient forest for dating advice?”

Ronan elbowed him, and even though it was dark, Adam was almost sure that he was blushing. “Shut up, Parrish. At least its advice is better than Czerny’s.”

“That’s true,” Adam said honestly, and then his words bit off on a gasp.

Stars burst across the sky in vibrant arcs, illuminating the sky in glowing light. It was like a meteor shower, or maybe it _was_ one, but the magic stitched into the Barns had turned it into something dreamlike. The stars trailed color behind them, turning the sky into a watercolor painting that shone with the light of hundreds of stars, tracing strange paths that crossed over with each other and became intricate patterns.

It was like Ronan’s tattoo, Adam realized, like Ronan himself; strange and delicate and terrible.

He could see blooming flowers and snapping claws, nightmares and angels and the edge of something impossible. It was beautiful in a way that stole his breath and pulled at his heart.

They watched in silence as the stars created designs across the sky, afraid to say anything unless it broke the spell they were caught inside. Adam felt Ronan’s hand brush against his, and he caught his fingers in his own.

It felt like it had been centuries, or only a handful of moments before the stars faded into the dark silk of the sky. Ronan breathed out a shaky exhale, turning to stare at Adam with wide eyes. “I’ve never seen something like that,” he said, the vulnerable honesty of his words almost seeming to surprise him. “Something that beautiful.”

“I have,” Adam said, and then he kissed him.

Kissing Ronan was like watching the stars, something that felt as if it should have been impossible but wasn’t. It was soft and aching and the catch of Ronan’s hands in his hair, and when they broke apart Adam breathed unsteadily against Ronan’s lips, wanting to catch this feeling and memorize it, wanting to feel it every day until he died.

“I have to leave,” he said softly, because Ronan was honest with him, and he deserved the same in return. “I can’t stay here.”

“I know,” Ronan said, and his hands were tracing against Adam’s cheekbones, the line of his jaw, his lips. His eyelashes were a dark sweep against his skin, and when he looked up, his eyes were the color of the stars. “And will you come back?”

“I will,” Adam said, kissing Ronan like a gift, like a promise. “I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND IN THIS YEAR OF OUR LORD NOAH CZERNY 2017, I RETURN WITH THE LAST INSTALLMENT. uh. yeah. sorry about that. anyway, this is terrible, but i wanted to finish it. thanks for reading and leaving kudos! xoxo


End file.
